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Peace Prize winner cancels, PeaceJam goes onMay 10, 2006 KALAMAZOO--A lecture by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, scheduled for Friday night, May 12, at Western Michigan University, has been canceled. All other activities of the fourth annual Great Lakes PeaceJam Youth Conference Saturday and Sunday, May 13-14, will proceed as scheduled. As part of the weekend conference, the public is invited to participate in a "Use Your Freedom" public action event in Bronson Park in downtown Kalamazoo from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13. Local social justice advocacy groups will be on hand to provide information about their causes. Ramos-Horta, who was to fly from United Nations talks in New York to Kalamazoo this week, flew instead to East Timor to address growing conflict and violence in his country, which is located between Indonesia and Australia. PeaceJam is an international education program built around 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and the Dalai Lama. Through the program, the laureates work directly with young people. PeaceJam's goal is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities and the world. Since 1996, more than 200,000 teenagers worldwide have participated in PeaceJam where they have developed and implemented some 140,000 community service and peace projects. Great Lakes PeaceJam, based in Kalamazoo, is administered by the Greater Kalamazoo United Way and serves the youth of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. More than 1,000 young people have participated in Great Lakes PeaceJam programs since its 2002 inception. Funding for Great Lakes PeaceJam is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kalamazoo Community Foundation and Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. For more information, visit www.peacejam.org. Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu WMU News |
